


silence, ringing

by hulklinging



Series: 31 Days of Spooky [5]
Category: Saw (Movies), Young Avengers
Genre: Gen, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mind Games, Minor Injuries, Near Death Experiences, Survival Horror, it's not really connected to the saw movies but it's a saw like situation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 04:59:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4991167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hulklinging/pseuds/hulklinging
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billy wakes up tied down to a table, in a room with no doors, but it's the silence that scares him most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	silence, ringing

**Author's Note:**

> This was agonizing. I can't even reread it, because if I do I'll never post it. This is for my 31 days of spooky, day... 5? Theme is Saw-inspired.

Billy wakes up in an all white room with no memory of how he got there. It's so bright that for a moment Billy thinks he's gone blind. Slowly, his eyes adjust, and a small white room comes into focus. There's a hospital like feel to the lighting, and Billy tries to remember how he got here. Was he in some kind of accident? Then he turns his head, and his stomach twists. No. No hospital. There's no windows, just scrawled writing on the walls, what looks like a set of scalpels and other instruments rusting in the corner, and a dead body against the far wall.

Billy whimpers, and it's only then that he realizes he's strapped down to a metal table. He can feel the panic grabbing hold of him, making his lungs tighten. His wrists already ache, like he's been struggling against the rough straps for a while, now. But that didn't make sense. Had he been drugged? Why couldn't he remember where he had been before waking up here?

He opens his mouth, to scream, to call for help. No sound comes out of his mouth and he doesn't know what's happening for a long moment, because he can feel his chest vibrating, but he doesn't hear anything, he can't hear anything.

_Help, please, someone!_

Then he becomes aware of the pain in his ears. It feels like when he got an ear piercing, only the pain spans all the way up both ears, and is much much worse. He kicks with his feet, also strapped down but with just enough give that he can bang them against the metal frame beneath him. He can feel the impacts, but no sound.

This time the scream is ripped out of him, desperate panic.

He's not mute. He's deaf.

_What the fuck, what the fuck what the fuck._

Movement in the corner, the body standing up. Billy kicks at the table again, arms straining at the restraints, but nothing gives. The body has some strange mask on, one that covers both of his eyes and ends right before his mouth. His mouth is moving, hands up, reaching out, and Billy realizes he's still screaming. He swallows, makes his limbs relax, and uses his words.

"Something's wrong with my ears. I can't hear."

The other man pauses, and then nods once in understanding. He finds the wall with one hand, slides a foot forward, and promptly flinches back. Billy doesn't need to see his whole face to see it contort in pain, and when he looks down, he notices the floor.

Fuck.

"Wait, wait, the ground's all fucked up..." A tile floor, sure. Each one lined in razors, and he notices some of the tiles themselves look strange. The air above them seems to... ripple? Heated, enough to burn. Billy's stomach turns. What sicko has their hands on him? What the hell were they gonna do?

"Okay, the floor has razors, I think some of it is heated, too... Just, just stay put a moment."

The guy's mouth twists, and he crouches against the wall, gestures to his bleeding foot. The message is obvious. He's not going anywhere at the moment.

Billy tries to get his panicked brain to stop, think. He can lead the guy through the tiles, if the guy trusts him. He could get him over here, maybe untie him, and then what? There's still no door, unless there's an exit directly underneath his table.

He thumps his head against the bed and in doing so, looks directly up for the first time.

A sheet of heavy metal spikes hang above him. Next to them, scrawled across the ceiling in what looks like blood, are the words DON'T LOOK. Some part of Billy's brain snaps in this moment. The edges of his vision threaten blackness, and there's wetness on his face. He's making this high pitched keening noise, or he thinks he is.

_I'm going to die here._

He looks back at his companion, trying to focus on anything but the death literally hanging over his head.

"You have to tell my parents I didn't want this."

The guy's head shoots up right away, and he pushes himself up to standing. Billy sucks in a deep breath but can't seem to stop talking.

"No listen you have to, because I was... I was really sad, for a while there, and I've been doing better but I know they worry. And they have to know I didn't want this, okay? I don't want to die anymore."

The guy has his hands up in a calming gesture, and Billy's struggling to breathe, he's probably having a panic attack, he hasn't had one since high school and this is the perfect time to start again isn't it, just perfect...

No. _Stop that right now, Kaplan._

He makes his breathing slow, closes his eyes tight. When he opens them again, he's surprised to find himself a lot more calm. Probably the kind of fear that makes you cold. Or the accepting part of grief. Either way, he's gonna use it to help the other guy, at least.

"O-okay. Sorry. Um... I'm going to lead you over here, and then... maybe we can untie me. And I can look at your mask?"

The boy nods, still frowning in his general direction, but Billy doesn't care, can't care that he's shown off his crazy pretty thoroughly at this point. Instead, he licks his lips (chapped close to cracking, he's thirsty, he knows some knockout drugs give people dry mouth, is that what this is, or have they been there a long time? Is anyone looking for them yet?) and slowly but surely he verbally guides his roommate across the tiles, as safely as he can. The boy listens, trusting him completely, which Billy finds hard to believe, but doesn't question. Finally, after only a few stumbles and no new blood, the boy is standing right next to him.

"Right, um..."

The guy reaches out, slow but not hesitant in touching the body of the strange voice he's been listening to. Billy could be anyone, he doesn't know that. For all he knows, Billy's the one who put them here (could this guy have put them both here? That cut on his foot looked pretty nasty, it seems like a stupid way to fake innocence, and if Billy lets his suspicious side well up now he'll be useless. None of that), and yet he immediately starts feeling around for Billy's wrist. Billy shivers as their hands touch, some strange remnant of his earlier shakes, fear and anticipation at maybe getting to put space between himself and those spikes.

One wrist. First one foot, then the other, and then finally the boy reaches over him, chests brushing as he undoes the last strap. Billy holds his breath until he feels the pressure fall off his wrist, and as soon as he's free he has to move _now now now!_ He grabs at the boy with shaking fingers, scrambling with weak, fuzzy limbs that seem to be moving in slow motion. When he gets himself partially off the table he realizes that his legs aren't quite ready to hold him, and it's only his new friend who keeps him on his feet. He's babbling apologies even as he is lowered to the floor, and the boy follows him down too, mouth pursed in what looks like concern.

"Sorry, sorry, there were... spikes, I think, in the ceiling..."

With the boy so close, Billy gets a good look at the mask for the first time. It's a strange thing, looking cobbled together out of spare parts, and there's something at the back that looks like a catch...

"Hey, I think... don't move."

His fingers don't look like his own, with how badly they're shaking, and his wrists are rubbed raw and swollen. He fumbles with the clasp, and it takes him two tries to press the button. The mask clicks, the boy flinches, and the ceiling comes crashing down.

There's a ringing in his ears, and a pretty blonde face is staring at him. If this is the afterlife, it's a good start.

The blonde's mouth is moving, and that mouth looks familiar. Oh. He must not be dead yet, then. He coughs, pushes himself up on his elbows, and notices the giant hole in the ceiling.

He points. "A way out?"

The boy shrugs. He's still staring at Billy, his concern obvious. He reaches out to touch Billy's head, and Billy freezes. When he pulls his hand away, there's a bit of blood on it.

Well, at least Billy doesn't have to feel silly for being a little dizzy.

The spikes are buried in the metal frame he was strapped to, and the metal plate they were on took some of the ceiling with it. That's what had hit Billy, judging by the plaster around him. The other boy has various cuts as well, and a truly impressive black eye, although whether that's from the ceiling or whatever happened before that mask went on, Billy has no idea.

He must be drifting a little, because the boy shakes his shoulder, and he refocuses himself.

"M'fine, don't worry. You?"

The boy smiles and nods and it's almost convincing. He really is very pretty, or maybe it's just that Billy still hasn't really let go of his childish dreams of princes and rescues. He's a bit of a sucker for heroics, he'll be the first to admit it. And that's probably what makes him open his mouth and tell the guy-

"Billy. I'm Billy."

This time, the smile looks a little more real.

There's still a ringing in Billy's ear, or maybe it's in his head. He can't tell, and he's afraid to raise a hand to see what's been done to his ears. He doesn't want to know if it's something permanent or what. He'll focus on getting out first. Then deal with potentially crippling injuries.

The boy helps him up, which is unnecessary but appreciated. Billy climbs back up onto the bed, and with the added height of the spikes and their base, he can reach the lip of the ceiling. If he had just woken up from a good night's sleep in his own bedroom, he might be able to lift himself up. But with legs that can barely stand, he can barely get a grip, let alone pull his own body weight up.

The blonde has joined him up on the bed, and he quirks an eyebrow at Billy.

"You want to lift me up, don't you?" Billy can feel his cheeks heating. "I won't be able to help you up after."

The boy doesn't seem to care. He cautiously grabs Billy just above his hips, and lifts him like he's nothing. Billy scowls in spite of himself, but he manages to get himself up into the ceiling. The boy has no problem pulling himself up after him, which makes Billy's scowl deepen, and the other guy goes so far as to laugh when he sees Billy's face.

"Whatever," mutters Billy, and starts to crawl across the ceiling. There's vibrations, he can feel them, and he peeks around to check if his companion is trying to talk to him, but the boy shakes his head. He looks strained, wincing as the vibrations get worse.

"What?" he asks.

The boy shakes his head, says something that looks like 'screaming'. Billy doesn't ask again. He's thinking he might have the better end of the deal, at this moment. There are patches on the ceiling, and Billy can't help but wonder if there's someone under each one, strapped to a table, hoping nothing falls.

Not him, though. They're going to get out of here, like waking up from a nightmare, any second...

And then he hits a dead end.

The lights are dim, leaking in from the rooms below, but it's bright enough to see that this is not just a dead end. It's a door, like the door of a safe, a handle and a pinpad next to it.

Billy starts to feel that panic coming back in. They're not getting out, they're being herded.

The tunnel shakes, he gets a push from behind, and he turns to see a metal panel drop down and cut off their exit. His wide eyes meet the blonde's, that bright blue mirroring his panic back at him. And either he's starting to hyperventilate again, or the air is getting thicker.

He pulls at his shirt, holding his collar over his mouth with one hand. He's already feeling dizzy. In desperation, he leans forward, types his name into the pinpad, and is met with an error message. There's a tap on his shoulder, and he presses himself against the wall so that his companion can take a stab at it. His head spins, but he can still see the screen flash red. Another wrong password. They're so close, maybe, although who knows what's waiting on the other side of that door. Maybe a way out. Maybe more riddles and tricks and traps. Maybe nothing at all, maybe this was hell, and they were dead already. With the way the gas is seeping through his shirt, into his lungs, making them burn, that might make the most sense.

The boy's shaking his shoulder, the pretty boy who almost made it. He's shaking his shoulder, and then he's punching numbers into a pinpad, desperately trying to guess at the code, against impossible odds. And he's bigger than Billy but not by that much, so he hasn't got much time before he's passing out too, and then they'll both burn up.

This pretty boy has a number tattooed to the back of his neck.

Maybe they're just written, it's hard to tell if the bleeding around them is blood or ink, with how Billy's vision is going. But he can still make them out. He reaches out, reads them off one by one as he traces them. He hadn't dared to touch, before, but this is okay, because it's their last moments and the guy is turning towards him, smiling at him like he's done something real special. Like he's special.

The last thing Billy sees is a flash of green, and the door swing open. After that, everything goes dark.

* * *

 Billy wakes up in stages. He's slow to wake, like always, but this time, it's not the bed underneath him or the light hitting his eyes that wake him up. It's a steady beeping, and it's beautiful. Because it's beeping out the tune of his heartbeat, and he can hear each one. He lies there in what must be a hospital bed, and Tommy always whines that hospital beds are uncomfortable but this one feels so soft, and he doesn't open his eyes for a long time, just lets himself listen to his heart monitor telling him he's alive, he's alive, he survived and he's somewhere safe and somewhere close by he hears muted voices, his mother and his twin and his dad, talking quietly. He should wake up, let them know he's okay. Soon.

After he does finally wake up, it's a whirlwind of police statements, family reunions, and slowly filling in the gaps in his memory. He'd gone to a party with Tommy, left early, never made it home. He'd been gone just under twenty four hours, all told, although a few of those hours were after he'd passed out, when the boy who had been trapped with him had carried him as far as he could before he had collapsed in a park, giving an early morning jogger quite a fright. He has a lot of bad bruising, a mild concussion, a fracture in one wrist and a bit of damage to his throat from the gas. Everything should heal in time, save maybe the holes in his ears that their attacker had drilled so that he could affix his homemade horror-movie earplugs. The police had assured him that the devices were actually proving quite instrumental in tracking down the guy. As comforting as that was to hear, Billy is trying to not think about them at all. He doesn't want to know what his ears look like, has the nurse assure him the dressings cover everything before he lets his family come in.

At first he's just happy to be able to see them again, but after a while his mother's concerned brows, the way his dad can't stop looking at him, how Tommy's trying to hide that he's been crying. It makes his lungs get tight like he's getting gassed all over again. He feigns exhaustion, begs for some time to sleep. They promise to come back in the morning, and he's left alone with his heart monitor again.

The next time he wakes up, it's dark in his room, although his door is open and light casts strange shadows in his room. The light also catches a figure sitting in the chair by his bed, and Billy's heart is in his throat until he notices that the person is also wearing a hospital gown, and has bright blonde hair.

He must see Billy looking at him, because he smiles, sheepish at being caught, maybe. He's the only person in the world Billy doesn't mind seeing right now.

"Hi," says the boy. "I'm Teddy."

It's the best thing Billy's ever heard.

 


End file.
